futures io is the largest futures trading community on the planet, with over 90,000 members. At futures io, our goal has always been and always will be to create a friendly, positive, forward-thinking community where members can openly share and discuss everything the world of trading has to offer. The community is one of the friendliest you will find on any subject, with members going out of their way to help others. Some of the primary differences between futures io and other trading sites revolve around the standards of our community. Those standards include a code of conduct for our members, as well as extremely high standards that govern which partners we do business with, and which products or services we recommend to our members.

At futures io, our focus is on quality education. No hype, gimmicks, or secret sauce. The truth is: trading is hard. To succeed, you need to surround yourself with the right support system, educational content, and trading mentors – all of which you can find on futures io, utilizing our social trading environment.

With futures io, you can find honest trading reviews on brokers, trading rooms, indicator packages, trading strategies, and much more. Our trading review process is highly moderated to ensure that only genuine users are allowed, so you don’t need to worry about fake reviews.

We are fundamentally different than most other trading sites:

We are here to help. Just let us know what you need.

We work extremely hard to keep things positive in our community.

We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts.

We firmly believe in and encourage sharing. The holy grail is within you, we can help you find it.

We expect our members to participate and become a part of the community. Help yourself by helping others.

You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free and simple.

You better have a million dollars in your account if you are still trading CL. LOL

Relax Gary. You're info and analysis is seemingly spot on as our euro friends say. Kudo's to you for being in CL. I was in there when I was first coming up on sim and like a newbie dork I tried it live..Oppsy!!!

Perhaps you should get rid of the dog, wife , kids etc.. JK Your mind will be a lot clearer.. I'm just sayin..

Keep it going man!!!!

PB

I know CL is a beast, possibly the most insane market, but something about it seems to work for me. It has to do with the number of opportunites given within a certain time period that fits my psychology. Had I stayed in ES I might not have ever turned the corner. Gold is close, but I could not get it to stop taking my profits after a good run up.

If I did not have the wife and the dog I would not have become the trader that I am. They have kept me grounded, and after major losses showed me that money was not everything.

Thanks for your kind words on the analysis. I keep studying and studying, and occasionally get it to all come together. Still working daily to understand better.

I know CL is a beast, possibly the most insane market, but something about it seems to work for me.

Same here, Gary.

“Every stock is like a human being : it has a personality – a distinctive personality – aggressive, reserved, hyper, high-strung, volatile, boring, direct, logical, predictable, unpredictable. I often studied stocks like I would study people; after a while their reactions to certain circumstances become more predictable.”

I do plan to trade at the 5-10 contract level in the near future. My issue today is that I have not been a "good" trader for that long, and the path I chose to become good meant I had to accept, as painfully tedious as it can be to me at times, that I am in no hurry. I chunk out my $200.00, $500.00, an occasional $1k, and then I quit. But I am headed for bigger and better things.

Gary - I know you've mentioned reading Ari Kiev and I'm not sure if you're already into or through his books. But I just wanted to say that when you do start to seriously approach sizing up, you may find Ari's book "the psychology of risk" incredibly valuable. He trained olympic athletes to reach beyond their self-imposed limits for more than a decade - his philosophy of life and risk is all about reaching your potential - especially as it relates to trading. It really is an awesome book. Here's a quote from the final pages:

"I cannot emphasize this point enough: you are what you have the courage to be." - ari kiev

If I did not have the wife and the dog I would not have become the trader that I am.

Mike

Due to time constraints, please do not PM me if your question can be resolved or answered on the forum.

Need help?1) Stop changing things. No new indicators, charts, or methods. Be consistent with what is in front of you first.2) Start a journaland post to it daily with the trades you made to show your strengths and weaknesses.3) Set goals for yourself to reach daily. Make them about how you trade, not how much money you make.4) Accept responsibility for your actions. Stop looking elsewhere to explain away poor performance.5) Where to start as a trader? Watch this webinar and read this thread for hundreds of questions and answers.6) Help using the forum? Watch this video to learn general tips on using the site.

I know CL is a beast, possibly the most insane market, but something about it seems to work for me. It has to do with the number of opportunites given within a certain time period that fits my psychology. Had I stayed in ES I might not have ever turned the corner. Gold is close, but I could not get it to stop taking my profits after a good run up.

If I did not have the wife and the dog I would not have become the trader that I am. They have kept me grounded, and after major losses showed me that money was not everything.

Thanks for your kind words on the analysis. I keep studying and studying, and occasionally get it to all come together. Still working daily to understand better.

Yes..for me..my whole trading endeavor drastically changed when I discovered CL. There's nothing else like it. It definitely fits my personality. I traded Forex for several years and sometimes when I see oil do one of those momentum spikes..I get lured in. When those spikes happened in the Euro, I knew it was usually the start of a big move. But you get a spike in oil, it often just turns right around and goes the other way. I have to remember this is not Forex ! The trick for me with CL has been trying to determine how long to hold some trades. I find that my best chance of runners usually occurs around 9:00 to 9;20 est...sometimes 10:40 est and often around 11 am est. Sometimes 2:20 pm gives a nice closing push. I have configured a 4 range chart with some algo coded trailng stop dots. Whether it is mainly psychological or not, they help me to stay in a trade much longer. The thing is..sometimes I'm up 10 to 12 ticks..but they cause me to only break even. But on many others, the dots will keep me in 50 to 100 tick trades. Being someone who scalped Forex for small tick gains, catching nice runners has been a new, but wonderful experience. Between the volume I see, the time of day, where the price level is, my adx and a few other things, I take my entries. I never take more than a 10 tick stop loss..and I will often stay in the trade untill the dots give me my exit signal. I'm very happy with the results I'm getting.
Anyhow, thanks for starting one of the best threads on here. Your posts have been very insightful and helpful to me. Here is a chart form this morning..nice move starting just before 9am est..

Try an ATR trailing stop and set the parameter to 1.5 or 1.2 or whatever your tolerance is. It could keep you in the move right till the end give or take a tick but you WILL get stopped out with it. That is the whole idea. Let the technology do all the work. I do. I am trying to one going for my ZW moves in the morning. Good luck!!